But ‘Comfort’ Attending Events with Social Distancing, PPE and Vaccines Continues Trend Upward
Only 35% of Public Supports Texas Rangers Decision to Open at Full Capacity
South Orange, NJ, April 28, 2021 – The Seton Hall Sports Poll asked Americans if they would be comfortable attending a full-capacity outdoor stadium event of any type, only 37 percent said yes, a number which rose to 46 percent among sports fans and 58 percent among avid fans. The same question about attending indoor events found just 33 percent of the general public saying they would be comfortable, which increased to 43 percent among sports fans and 57 percent among avid fans.
By contrast, when asked if they would attend a sporting event with personal protection equipment, social distancing measures and restricted attendance, 50 percent of the general population said “yes” to outdoor events and 42 percent said “yes” to indoor events.
These were the findings of a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted April 23-26 geographically spread across the United States using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. The Poll had 1,563 adult respondents with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Seton Hall Sports Poll has regularly asked the public whether they would be comfortable attending sporting events if they had access to a vaccine, personal protection equipment and social distancing measures were observed at the venue.
When the question was first asked in April 2020, (combining indoor and outdoor events), only 13 percent said they would feel safe, with 12 percent saying “safe with social distancing.” Seventy-two percent said they would not feel safe “at all,” a number which today is only 32 percent for outdoors and 38 percent for indoor events with precautions.
“In the course of one year, we’ve gone from 72 percent saying they would not feel safe or comfortable at a sporting event under pretty much any circumstances, down to 32 percent saying they would not feel safe attending an outdoor event and 38 percent feeling the same about indoor events,” said Seton Hall Marketing Professor and Poll Methodologist Daniel Ladik. “The public may not be ready yet for full capacity, but the reluctance to attend events with precautions in place has dropped considerably over the course of the last year – a 40 point drop is substantial by anyone’s measure.”
Question response charted over time: If you were to receive the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, would you attend…A live outdoor sporting event in-person, with personal protection equipment (PPE), social distancing measures, and restricted attendance?
|
General
|
Population |
Sports
|
Fan | Non | Fan | |||||||
| April
2021 |
Mar
2021 |
Jan
2021 |
Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar 2021 | Jan 2021 | Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar
2021 |
Jan 2021 | Nov 2020 | |
| Yes | 50% | 43% | 40% | 28% | 62% | 61% | 57% | 39% | 34% | 20% | 18% | 8% |
| No | 32% | 40% | 41% | 58% | 24% | 27% | 29% | 50% | 41% | 56% | 57% | 73% |
| No opinion | 18% | 17% | 19% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 14% | 11% | 25% | 24% | 45% | 19% |
Texas Rangers Baseball Team Allows Full Capacity, American Public Disagrees
Only a little more than a third of the American general public – 35 percent – agrees with the Texas Rangers’ decision to open their ballpark to full capacity, with 46 percent in disagreement (19 percent did not know or had no opinion).
The number of those who agree with the Rangers’ decision rises among those who consider themselves sports fans to 44 percent while 42 percent oppose it. Among those who describe themselves as “avid fans,” 57 percent support the decision, and 34 percent oppose it.
Besides Opening Day, the Rangers have played to one other near sell-out crowd this month. This is the first year in which their new ballpark (Globe Life Field) is open to fans.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, theses numbers essentially reverse when we look at citizens within the state of Texas itself. While the sample size is quite small (110 respondents, seven percent of total polled), Texans supported the full capacity decision by a 48-36 percent margin.
Full Capacity Elsewhere?
Participants in the poll were also asked if other Major League Baseball teams should allow full capacity attendance, and by a similar margin (49-34 percent opposed, 17 percent undecided), the findings mirrored the Rangers result.
“Unrealized capacity in stadiums equals unrealized revenue for teams – but the data clearly shows that the public remains cautious,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within the Stillman School of Business, which oversees the Seton Hall Sports Poll. “We all want to return to full capacity events, but precautions are still warranted.”
# # #
Questions and charted breakdowns may be found below; an online version of this release may be found at http://blogs.shu.edu/sportspoll/
ABOUT THE POLL
The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.
Media: Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University
michael.ricciardelli@shu.edu, 908-447-3034; Marty Appel, AppelPR@gmail.com
This SHSP was conducted April 23rd through April 26th and includes responses from 1,563 US adults with a margin of error of 3.2%. The sample mirrors the US Census percentages on age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, and region.
Q1. Which, if any, of the following statements best describes you?
- I am an avid sports fan 20%
- I am a sports fan 36%
- I am nota sports fan 44%
Now here are some questions about event attendance and viewership
Q6a – If you were to receive the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, would you attend…A live outdoor sporting event in-person , with personal protection equipment (PPE), socially distancing measures, and restricted attendance?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes, I would attend | 50% | 62% | 34% | 72% | 57% |
| No, I would not attend | 32% | 24% | 41% | 19% | 27% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 18% | 14% | 25% | 9% | 16% |
| General
|
Population | Sports
|
Fan | Non | Fan | |||||||
| April
2021 |
Mar
2021 |
Jan
2021 |
Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar 2021 | Jan 2021 | Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar
2021 |
Jan 2021 | Nov 2020 | |
| Yes | 50% | 43% | 40% | 28% | 62% | 61% | 57% | 39% | 34% | 20% | 18% | 8% |
| No | 32% | 40% | 41% | 58% | 24% | 27% | 29% | 50% | 41% | 56% | 57% | 73% |
| No opinion | 18% | 17% | 19% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 14% | 11% | 25% | 24% | 45% | 19% |
Q6b – If you were to receive the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, would you attend…A live indoor sporting event in-person , with personal protection equipment (PPE), socially distancing measures, and restricted attendance?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes, I would attend | 42% | 56% | 26% | 71% | 48% |
| No, I would not attend | 38% | 29% | 49% | 19% | 34% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 20% | 15% | 25% | 10% | 18% |
| General
|
Population | Sports
|
Fan | Non | Fan | |||||||
| April
2021 |
Mar
2021 |
Jan
2021 |
Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar 2021 | Jan 2021 | Nov
2020 |
April 2021 | Mar
2021 |
Jan 2021 | Nov 2020 | |
| Yes | 42% | 35% | 32% | 21% | 56% | 49% | 46% | 29% | 26% | 16% | 14% | 8% |
| No | 38% | 47% | 44% | 67% | 29% | 37% | 38% | 60% | 49% | 61% | 63% | 79% |
| No opinion | 20% | 18% | 19% | 12% | 15% | 14% | 16% | 11% | 25% | 23% | 23% | 13% |
The Texas Rangers opened the 2021 Major League Baseball season allowing full capacity fan attendance in their stadium.
Q7a Given the current rate of recovery for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), do you agree with the Texas Rangers’ decision?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 35% | 44% | 25% | 57% | 38% |
| No | 46% | 42% | 50% | 34% | 46% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 19% | 14% | 25% | 9% | 16% |
Q7b Should other Major League Baseball teams allow full capacity fan attendance in their stadiums?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 34% | 42% | 25% | 55% | 35% |
| No | 49% | 45% | 54% | 35% | 50% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 17% | 13% | 21% | 10% | 15% |
Q7c Would you be comfortable attending a full-capacity outdoor stadium event of any type?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 37% | 46% | 26% | 58% | 38% |
| No | 51% | 45% | 58% | 35% | 50% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 12% | 9% | 16% | 7% | 12% |
Q7d Would you be comfortable attending a full-capacity indoor stadium or arena event of any type?
| N=1,563
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 33% | 43% | 21% | 57% | 35% |
| No | 56% | 49% | 64% | 39% | 55% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 11% | 8% | 15% | 4% | 10% |
ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall has been showing the world what great minds can do since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Seton Hall embraces students of all religions and prepares them to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, it has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth and an impressive 110-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have received more than 30 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors, including Boren Awards, Pickering Fellowships, Udall Scholarships and a Rhodes Scholarship. The University is also proud to be among the most diverse national Catholic universities in the country.
During the past five years, the University has invested more than $165 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a School of Medicine as well as a College of Communication and the Arts. The University’s beautiful main campus in suburban South Orange, N.J. is only 14 miles from New York City — offering students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. Seton Hall’s nationally recognized School of Law is located prominently in downtown Newark. The University’s Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus in Clifton and Nutley, N.J. opened in the summer of 2018. The IHS campus houses the University’s College of Nursing, School of Health and Medical Sciences and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
For more information, visit www.shu.edu.